NEWS [UO.Com] Vendor Search on TC1

[Kojak]

Kojak: While I do commend you for your work in determining some of the details of searching, there's one or two of those that I have to question slightly. Here's the post I believe you're referring to:


Actually, you can search and find powerscrolls without using your exact syntax. For instance, a search on Legendary will show all Legendary Powerscrolls. Also, a search on Mysticism will (after you get thru a couple of screens of Mysticism spellbooks) show you Mysticism powerscrolls. So they have to have both Legendary and Mysticism assigned (somewhere in the code) to a Legendary Scroll of Mysticism, since a search on either of those picked up the ps's...

I think that in the end it won't matter - as I have confidence in the dev teams ability to continue to improve Vendor Search into the future, where I suspect they will add the Power Scroll and BOD categories to the existing search options.

I guess you have to be a computer programmer to fully understand what I was posting about but I do know that you can do those other 2 searches individually and get those results - what I was explaining was why they don't work together at the same time to get the search results that you want (ex: a lengendary scroll of mysticism) specifically so you don't have to wade through page after page of nonsense

 

[Voodoo Bad Mojo]

I already posted the entire reason why you can't search for powerscrolls with extremely good technical information - search for my post on the vendor search thread

yes i read your post from before.
and its wrong.

i typed what you said to type and it came back with no results.
and i know there are healing scrolls out there because i put some on my vender.

so i typed in the search box;
scroll of healing - nothing
a scroll of healing - nothing
a scroll healing - nothing
an scroll of healing - nothing
scroll healing - nothing
healing (brings up all levels of healing PS plus healing spells)
scroll (brings up every spell and scroll on the shard)
an exalted scroll of heal - nothing
exalted scroll of healing
exalted scroll (brings up all 110 scrolls on shard)
exalted healing - nothing
110 healing - nothing
healing 110 - nothing

so as far as i can tell there is no way to bring up of just 110 healing PS
i use healing as the example because i know there are some out there.

 

[Kojak]

whether you realize it or not, your post makes my point - you have to be a computer programmer to understand why evidently

try this: "scroll of ~1" (without the quotation marks and don't forget the 2 spaces) - I just tried it on TC1 and it brought up all the powerscrolls

 

[startle]

I guess you have to be a computer programmer to fully understand what I was posting about.....

- you have to be a computer programmer to understand why evidently

..... so as far as i can tell there is no way to bring up of just 110 healing PS

- what I was explaining was why they don't work together at the same time to get the search results that you want (ex: a lengendary scroll of mysticism) specifically so you don't have to wade through page after page of nonsense

I should just leave this alone, but for some reason I feel compelled to respond again - mostly because of your condescending attitude here. Twice now you've said: "I guess you have to be a computer programmer to fully understand what I was posting about". I've done my share of programming over the past 25 or so years as have many here on these boards, and most of us (certainly myself) don't appreciate your assertion that we somehow need to have whatever your level of programming prowess is - in order to understand what you're saying...

What I was trying to point out and what Voodoo Bad Mojo was saying, is that there is NO way to do a search for a specific powerscroll. Yes, you have shown us how part of their search engine works - and for that I am grateful. What I was saying is that if you're looking for a specific level of powerscroll, then all you need to search for is the level itself - ie. just using Exalted will bring up all 110 powerscrolls. Or if you want to find all the Mysticism or Healing or Bushido powerscrolls, then just type in Mysticism or Healing, etc. You don't need to worry about spacing or using a tilde for either of those.
And yes, if you want to see every single powerscroll on the shard - then, by all means, we can use your syntax.

 

[Kojak]

my search isn't useful for anything other than to show how the database is set up (so that searching for a specific powerscroll is impossible) - that's the whole point I was trying to make - it's not meant to do meaningful searches - it's to show that you can't because of how the scrolls are stored in the database (and the condescension was intentional - hehe )

 

[Voodoo Bad Mojo]

ive got 2 programers fighting in a language i do not understand.

i think my work is done here.

*backs away from thread*

 

[Kojak]

Kojak for the WIN!!! (hehe)

 

[Lorax_Pacific]

I zoomed into the name plate of that trophy and didn't see your name on it.

-Lorax

 

[petemage]

Enough of fixes for now. When is this going to hit prodo? ;D

 

[Lord Kotan]

How do you use this function?

 

[DJAd]

How do you use this function?

Click on yourself and choose vendor search.

 

[startle]

..... the condescension was intentional -

Of that I have no doubt.... And no, that trophy belongs to me....

 

[Smoot]

Enough of fixes for now. When is this going to hit prodo? ;D

im hoping it doesnt hit for at least a month. stuff is pushed too fast. how this is now i would use it as well as the easier third party sites, but would cringe every time.

 

[startle]

I'm guessing that the dev team worked hard to get this out to test before Christmas, and that they're taking a well deserved holiday break about now.... I don't expect to see it go live before the new year, but who knows.... I'm just really, really happy that they finally did it. I'm proud of them... Merry Christmas Dev Team, you certainly made ours brighter!

 

[flappy6]

can we get this item search for our house, i cant find anything

 

[Theo_GL]

my search isn't useful for anything other than to show how the database is set up (so that searching for a specific powerscroll is impossible) - that's the whole point I was trying to make - it's not meant to do meaningful searches - it's to show that you can't because of how the scrolls are stored in the database (and the condescension was intentional - hehe )

I didn't play with it much but did have a nice hearty laugh when I saw how much of the 'search' was tailored to armor/weapon/jewelry mods and information. As if ANYONE still runs an armor vendor anymore now that imbuing has entered the game.

What it SHOULD have is a section for 'skills' and then from there you can pick 'Alacrity, Transcendence, PS 105, PS 110, PS 115, PS 120'. Thats 35% of the searching people do anymore. Want to cover another 35%? Have a section for searching for various artifacts. Tangle, Crimson, etc. Last have a search for common items and ingredients like Powder of Fort, Trans powder, Essence, leather, ingots etc. Thats far far more valuable then being able to search by armor mods.

Seriously - when is the last time you bought a piece of crafted armor from a vendor? I haven't seen an armor vendor in like 2 years.

 

[DJAd]

Seriously - when is the last time you bought a piece of crafted armor from a vendor? I haven't seen an armor vendor in like 2 years.

All the time!!! At least on Atlantic, there is loads of awesome reforged stuff for sale. I mainly use a 3rd party website to search by typing things like "reforged greater leather tunic" for example, then it shows me all the nice tunics. Unfortunately with the UO vendor search the search term I mentioned yields no results. I'm hoping this will be sorted before it goes live.

I'm also hoping for the ability to search for specific mods on armor etc.

Say for example I wanted some gloves with 20lrc, and 8lmc, then 20+ posion and 20+energy resist. It would let me enter these mods and then show me any items that match or have higher amounts. That would be the best feature ever for me personally.

 

[startle]

All the time!!! At least on Atlantic, there is loads of awesome reforged stuff for sale. I mainly use a 3rd party website to search by typing things like "reforged greater leather tunic" for example, then it shows me all the nice tunics. Unfortunately with the UO vendor search the search term I mentioned yields no results. I'm hoping this will be sorted before it goes live.

I'm also hoping for the ability to search for specific mods on armor etc.

Say for example I wanted some gloves with 20lrc, and 8lmc, then 20+ posion and 20+energy resist. It would let me enter these mods and then show me any items that match or have higher amounts. That would be the best feature ever for me personally.

Yea, I look for armor vendors all the time - now, finally, people will start having them again, like the old days.

And DJAd - you can do exactly what you said "would be the best feature ever for me personally." You can search for all pieces that match your search criteria (gloves with 20lrc, and 8lmc, then 20+ posion and 20+energy resist) with the Vendor Search right now! Not sure how you're trying to do your search, but I just did one and it worked perfectly (and found a couple of pretty nice gloves).

 

[lucitus]

Yes it is a very nice Feature good work! Never thought it will ever come. A few tweaks in searching by name maybe a Magic character like * or % .

 

[Tina Small]

Yea, I look for armor vendors all the time - now, finally, people will start having them again, like the old days.

I'm excited about the vendor search as well. Finally got a chance to try it out a bit on TC1. I think it still needs some tweaking, but I'm very happy to see that it functions as well as it does at this point. I'm really tickled at the thought of finally being able to trust that the results I'm seeing are timely and comprehensive.

I just plopped down a second house on Balhae, using an account that has held one of my Siege houses for several years, to try a shop there again. This time it is NOT in Luna but instead is in a location where I've always wanted to have a house. I'm hoping other people, hopefully including many people who have quit playing and are looking for a reason to return, have been still reading the forums and will consider coming back now. They can perhaps take the opportunity to grab one of their "dream locations" outside of Luna on one of the quieter shards and set up a small shop. Or perhaps reopen a shop in an old location that was outside of Luna and throw a Grand Reopening Sale" or something.

I also hope that we will eventually get the ability to do vendor searches while not logged in. I got the impression from something Mesanna said in the video interview in October that we might be able to do that too eventually.

 

[startle]

I'm excited about the vendor search as well......I'm hoping other people, hopefully including many people who have quit playing and are looking for a reason to return, have been still reading the forums and will consider coming back now....

Yea, with the ability to both have a vendor anywhere and to actually be able to find a vendors' wares anywhere via the quick interface, well I just think that the economy and interest in playing again will perk up considerably...

 

[Pinco]

I tried this new tool and I have few suggestions:

1. Since the gump is HUGE, put some alpha on the background so we can see a bit through it.

2. If you really can't put a button to edit the current criterias, at least put an X buton near each criteria to remove it without having to clear the whole thing when you have to edit a single value....

3. 1k to teleport, seriously? I could understand it if when you recall you're going exactly over the vendor with the inventory open and the item highlighted, but you get under the house sign and the luna houses are filled with dozens of vendors that looks all the same... So you have to pay 1k to go near the house, then you have to search the vendor when they are all equals (and often with the same name), and then search for the item that could be anywhere? Remember that some vendors are filled with rings that looks all the same, so you can get nuts searching for the one you have found before (always if the items stills there, since someone else could have bought it and you're going to waste your time).
Listen to me, just make the map to work as a recall rune for the house and forget the 1k thing
OR color the map with a random hue then color the vendor AND the item inside the vendor with the same hue (just for the player and just until you have the map) so when you recall you can recognize vendor and item immediately without too efforts. And in this case you can justify the 1k cost.

4. Put a small window (like the square that shows the item in the results) as a reminder of what item you have chosen (able to shows the item properties on mouse over) with the green border if stills available and red if not (someone bought the item/the vendor owner has removed the item). The window should disappear with the map.
You could also make this small window clickable so when you are near the vendor, it will automatically open all the parents containers and shows the item without having to search for it manually.

5. Add another context button: Locate the vendor. So when you are near the tracking arrow will point to the right one. Obviously it has to work only if you are near the vendor

 

[startle]

Hail Pinco!
You have some good valid points about Vendor Search - a couple that haven't been suggested yet. Please copy your input here over to the thread that Petra created specifically for that purpose over on TC. HERE

 

[G.v.P]

I zoomed into the name plate of that trophy and didn't see your name on it.

-Lorax

That's why every good programmer needs a good graphic artist by their side ;P.

 

[Kojak]

I disagree ... hehe

 

[Elric_Soban]

The system is brand new. If you're unable to bring up powerscrolls in the search, then the search needs refining/bug fixing. There is no programmatic reason why Powerscrolls should be unavailable in a search. It's a bug/unfinished design. Nothing more. Give it time, and it will come.

 

[G.v.P]

I disagree ... hehe

lawl if only the EC had that kind of scaling on zoom

 

[Kojak]

Here's the EC's zoom - hehe

 

[Thrakkar]

Yeah, the CC could use some zoom too, when playing on some really big screen. BTW, if you didn't notice, that colorful "icon" in the top left corner is actually the game window

 

[CovenantX]

Yeah, the CC could use some zoom too, when playing on some really big screen. BTW, if you didn't notice, that colorful "icon" in the top left corner is actually the game window

How long does it take to move your courser from your pack to the game window to make trades? wait.... does it take less time to get to the center of a tootsie pop?

 

[Thrakkar]

lol
let's put it this way, if EA mythic would have to pay mileage allowance, they would have gone bankrupt years ago

 

[Nine Dark Moons]

commas in the vendor price would be helpful too. sorry if it's been mentioned before.

 

[Scribbles]

Can we pull together some funds and Hire google to do the search for the game.

Great work devs. Appreciate all the time and effort. Im sure it will be amazing by the time you realease it.

 

[G.v.P]

Yeah, the CC could use some zoom too

scared to see what it would look like in full screen hehe

 

[Viper09]

They could easily add zoom to the classic client. However, it would look incredibly ugly and pixelated

 

[G.v.P]

They could easily add zoom to the classic client. However, it would look incredibly ugly and pixelated

i know youre (everyone) is being silly, but im pretty sure UO would need a new engine to have the CC equipped with a zoom?

one thing I always wonder about is how efficient UO is as a program. when it's idle I wonder if there is a memory leak. they made a lot of tweaks to the EC, I'll give them that. it does seem to perform better on better computers. the CC seems to be limited though...like there's a bottleneck.

I dont know what it is. some programs just feel like they operate with less stress on the CPU, and UO is one that seems to be more of the stressing kind.

 

[startle]

..... I dont know what it is. some programs just feel like they operate with less stress on the CPU, and UO is one that seems to be more of the stressing kind.

Yes and No.... It does put a bit of a stress on a cpu and graphics card, but not that noticeable if you're running anything better than an old Pentium 4 and average video card...

 

[Uriah Heep]

Yes and No.... It does put a bit of a stress on a cpu and graphics card, but not that noticeable if you're running anything better than an old Pentium 4 and average video card...

Not a computer person, but mine is way later than Pentium...and if I leave it at the login screen for any length of time the cooling fans run like mad...

 

[Rogal]

Thank you for this. It is a much needed thing in game, a moderate chunk of my play time is given over to manually rummaging through vendors looking for particular items.

 

[Smoot]

i know youre (everyone) is being silly, but im pretty sure UO would need a new engine to have the CC equipped with a zoom?

one thing I always wonder about is how efficient UO is as a program. when it's idle I wonder if there is a memory leak. they made a lot of tweaks to the EC, I'll give them that. it does seem to perform better on better computers. the CC seems to be limited though...like there's a bottleneck.

I dont know what it is. some programs just feel like they operate with less stress on the CPU, and UO is one that seems to be more of the stressing kind.

It Would need a new engine. i dont see why this is impossible tho. there are very good engines that could even bring uo into the 21rst century and make it a real 3d game. im sure EA would be too cheap to shell out for the rights tho and is satisfied with losing a nominal amount of subscribers to freeshards, where uo can look amazing.

 

[kongomongo]

Not a computer person, but mine is way later than Pentium...and if I leave it at the login screen for any length of time the cooling fans run like mad...

Funnily enough at the login screen UO runs in a busy loop meaning it utilites one core/thread at 100%. Ingame it uses much less. The same 100% occurs when disconnected. Theres no real reason, just sloppy programming in that special case.

 

[G.v.P]

Yes and No.... It does put a bit of a stress on a cpu and graphics card, but not that noticeable if you're running anything better than an old Pentium 4 and average video card...

well, my best computer is getting pretty old now, too. lol. I'm on an AMD 64 X2 5600+ (2.8 GHZ Dual Core). working on building an AMD FX-8350 (4.0 GHZ Oct Core) build. (for builder noobs like me, check out bench marks and this builder site, fun sites.) but that "loop" kongomongo suggests is what I'm talking about.

 

[NuSair]

One of the sad parts about the whole thing is that they could easily (easy being relative to the wasted effort they have done in the past)redo the classic client with updated capabilities and use the same art work. It would look the same in general, but would have all new shiny stuff. If I was the one making the decisions, that is the direction I'd go in.

 

[Viper09]

I would just love better resolutions for the classic client. Give me that alone and I would be very happy.

 

[Thrakkar]

Would have hoped for an update on TC1 before the weekend, since it's sitting now on TC for over 3 weeks...

 

[startle]

Would have hoped for an update on TC1 before the weekend, since it's sitting now on TC for over 3 weeks...

Vendor Search was/is a major effort by the dev team and I know Lady M wants the rollout to be as good as it can be... I'm guessing that they have seen our conversations here and are proceeding on some of them. Now that we know for certain that this is going to happen, I'm giving them all the time they need to implement whatever changes they are making. Patience is a virtue is it not?

 

[Nine Dark Moons]

i figure i've waited over a decade for this, i can wait a few more weeks.

 

[Thrakkar]

Vendor Search was/is a major effort by the dev team and I know Lady M wants the rollout to be as good as it can be... I'm guessing that they have seen our conversations here and are proceeding on some of them. Now that we know for certain that this is going to happen, I'm giving them all the time they need to implement whatever changes they are making. Patience is a virtue is it not?

This is RL, not UO, so... scrap virtue
You completely misunderstood my request. I don't want to have it rolled out on PROD. I want a new patch on TC1.
The often they put a new patch on TC1, the more and the better we can give feedback. Shorter patch intervals means better and more accurate feedback. And if Lady M really wants the rollout to be as good as it can be, they need as much feedback as they can get. Currently all relevant things, that have to be said, have been said one and a half week ago. No new feedback has been added for over a week.

 

[startle]

Sounds like she's not on YOUR schedule, T...
Oh, and whether you realize it or not, virtue does still exist in rl for some.... Waits for sound of key...

 

[Thrakkar]

Sounds like she's not on YOUR schedule, T...

Yup, unfortunately not :-/
If they would be, the game would look completely different than today. Vendor search is in, checks have been removed, connected shards, etc...

But yeah, I guess, they need time to implement the changes and there were holidays also in between...